Taco '98 - 3.4L - Rear coil rubber tube stuck.

Hi guys,
I have a '98 Taco 3.4 L with 138,000 mi. Spark plugs have been changed four times during its life, coils are original and were being replaced due to one units failure.

While changing coils, the front & center units R&R'd fine. But the rear coil rubber tube fused inside metal valve cover tube, likely near the bottom. I have removed about half of the rubber, piece by piece, but having trouble extracting remaining lower part near plug.

Has anyone encountered this problem?
Thanks,

Grandpa B

 

Sounds like you get to replace the valve cover gasket! I would get the vc gaskets and the spark plug tube gaskets and just pull the covers. In the long run it might be faster than trying to get the rest out of the tube.

 

Ok guys,
Haven't received any replies, so I guess this condition is a first. Anyway, after nibbling away at the rubber coil insulator with needle nose pliers and a carefully implemented drill, I was only able to remove about half of the rubber insulator from the spark plug hole.

So what I decided to do was saturate the remaining rubber with brake cleaning spray and let it soak in for a few hours. The chemical reaction softened the rubber & released it from around the plug. It came out in a couple of pieces and a thorough air blast cleared out the remaining bits. Clean as a whistle, and the plug was undamaged. On the road again.......


Ya'll have a great day.

Grandpa B

 

Nice! I was worried you were gunna have a job on your hands with that lil problem...